A method is provided for monitoring the laser annealing of a semiconductor wafer. After annealing, images of many regions of the wafer are captured. The surface brightness of these regions is measured by computer, and statistics of these surface brightness measurements are determined, such as their mean and their standard deviation. Using a correlation between the surface brightnesses and the electrical resistance of the annealed wafer, the surface brightness statistics can be used to determine whether the annealing process resulted in a wafer that meets end user specifications. The surface brightness statistics can also be used to monitor the annealing tool, both during manufacturing and periodically or following maintenance.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method of monitoring laser annealing of a semiconductor wafer, the method comprising: laser annealing the wafer using a laser; ensuring illumination conditions are at predefined conditions; measuring a plurality of surface brightnesses of the wafer, each measurement being at a different portion of the wafer; determining brightness statistics of the measured surface brightnesses; and using the brightness statistics to determine whether the wafer exhibits desired electrical characteristics, wherein using the brightness statistics comprises determining both whether the mean surface brightness over the entire wafer is within a brightness tolerance of a target brightness and whether the standard deviation of the measured brightnesses of the entire wafer being is below a threshold, and if so, determining that the wafer exhibits the desired electrical characteristics.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: if the wafer exhibits the desired electrical characteristics, determining whether the brightness statistics indicate that control limits have been exceeded, and if so, adjusting at least one of a galvanometer used to direct the laser, the power of the laser, and the focus of the laser.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining whether the brightness statistics indicate that control limits have been exceeded comprises: determining brightness statistics separately for each of a plurality of blocks on the surface of the wafer; and determining that the control limits have been exceeded if the brightness statistics of no block indicates that the block exhibits the desired electrical characteristics.
4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising ensuring that mirrors in the galvanometer are aligned so as to sweep a beam from the laser symmetrically.
5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising ensuring that the power of the laser is at a nominal value.
6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: replacing the wafer with a bare Si wafer; laser annealing each of a plurality of portions of the Si wafer at a different focus offset; measuring the surface brightness of each portion, thereby associating each focus offset with one of the measured surface brightnesses; determining the focus offset associated with a minimum surface brightness of the surface brightnesses; and if the focus offset associated with a minimum surface brightness of the surface brightnesses is other than zero, adjusting the focus by an amount equal to that focus offset.
7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: ensuring that mirrors in the galvanometer are aligned so as to sweep a beam from the laser symmetrically; ensuring that the power of the laser is at a nominal value; replacing the wafer with a bare Si wafer; laser annealing each of a plurality of portions of the Si wafer at a different focus offset; measuring the surface brightness of each portion, thereby associating each focus offset with one of the measured surface brightnesses; determining the focus offset associated with a minimum surface brightness of the surface brightnesses; and if the focus offset associated with a minimum surface brightness of the surface brightnesses is other than zero, adjusting the focus by an amount equal to that focus offset.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining desired surface brightness characteristics of the wafer from the desired electrical characteristics of the wafer and a correlation between surface brightness and electrical resistance; and wherein determining whether the wafer exhibits desired electrical characteristics comprises determining whether the wafer exhibits the desired surface brightness characteristics.
9. A method of monitoring a laser annealing tool, the method comprising: laser annealing, using a laser, each of a plurality of portions of a bare Si wafer; ensuring illumination conditions are at predefined conditions; measuring a plurality of surface brightnesses of the wafer, each measurement being at a different portion of the wafer; determining brightness statistics of the measured surface brightnesses; and using the brightness statistics to determine whether the laser annealing tool requires adjusting, wherein using the brightness statistics comprises determining both whether the mean surface brightness over the entire wafer is within a brightness tolerance of a target brightness and whether the standard deviation of the measured brightnesses of the entire wafer being is below a threshold, and if so, determining that the wafer exhibits the desired electrical characteristics.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein laser annealing each of a plurality of portions comprises laser annealing each of at least some of the portions at a different focus offset, and the method further comprising: measuring the surface brightness of each of these portions, thereby associating each focus offset with one of the measured surface brightnesses; determining the focus offset associated with a minimum surface brightness of the surface brightnesses; and if the focus offset associated with a minimum surface brightness of the surface brightnesses is other than zero, adjusting the focus by an amount equal to that focus offset.
11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising: for each of a plurality of blocks, determining brightness statistics of the measured surface brightnesses of the portions within the block; determining whether the brightness statistics of any block indicates that the block exhibits desired characteristics; and if the brightness statistics of no block indicates that the block exhibits the desired characteristics, adjusting mirrors in a galvanometer directing a beam from the laser such that the mirrors are aligned so as to sweep the beam symmetrically.
12. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when read by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: determine brightness statistics of measured surface brightnesses of a laser annealed semiconductor wafer; and use the brightness statistics to determine whether the wafer exhibits desired electrical characteristics, wherein using the brightness statistics comprises determining both whether the mean surface brightness over the entire wafer is within a brightness tolerance of a target brightness and whether the standard deviation of the measured brightnesses of the entire wafer being is below a threshold, and if so, determining that the wafer exhibits the desired electrical characteristics.
13. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , further comprising instructions that, when read by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to determine desired surface brightness characteristics of the wafer from the desired electrical characteristics of the wafer using a correlation between surface brightness and electrical resistance.
14. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12 , further comprising instructions that, when read by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: determine brightness statistics separately for each of a plurality of blocks on the surface of the wafer; and determine that a tool used in annealing a wafer to create the laser annealed semiconductor wafer needs adjusting if the brightness statistics of no block indicates that the block exhibits the desired electrical characteristics.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
March 18, 2019
February 9, 2021
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.